In a Hylian Hole
by JC303
Summary: Tails meets a new friend who helps him create an inter-dimensional portal, but due to an accident, Sonic and his friends are transported into a new world where they have to figure out a way home...without the Chaos Emeralds.
1. When you Wish Upon a Star

"Sonic?"

Sonic had a mouthful of chili dog and couldn't properly respond, but he turned his head to his buddy. "Hm?"

Tails covered his mouth to try not to laugh at the puffed out cheeks and chili stained face Sonic had.

Sonic observed Tails' expression in puzzlement, swallowing what large amount of chili dog he had in his mouth. "What?"

"Your face is covered with chili!" Tails said, letting out a small laugh.

Sonic smiled, wiping off the chili with his fingers and then licking off the contents. He wouldn't dare wipe it with a napkin, because that would be a waste of chili. "So, what is it Tails?" he asked.

"Oh, I wanted to know if you'd want to finish mine," Tails said, offering a half-eaten chili dog. "I guess I wasn't as hungry as I thought I was."

Sonic snatched the dog out of the fox's hands instantly. "Sure thing!" he said, proceeding to wolf it down eagerly.

Tails smiled watching Sonic until his eyes peered around. The two of them were just sitting on a curb in the city and it was close to sundown so things around here were settling down. It was the perfect time just for hanging out, especially since Eggman's latest plan for unleashing Dark Gaia was foiled and the Dr. made his usual disappearance, likely to plot his next big scheme to take over the world and beat Sonic the Hedgehog.

Until then, they could take their time leisurely.

Once Sonic finished the dog in a matter of seconds, he noticed Tails quietly staring at the golden orange horizon. "…is something bothering you Tails?" he asked.

Tails hadn't heard him at first. "What?"

"You're just really quiet is all," Sonic added.

"Oh," Tails looked back at the sunset again. "Just thinking."

"'bout what?"

"Well," Tails rubbed his chin. "I started working on a project, but I've run into a small problem that I haven't found a solution to yet."

Sonic cocked his head curiously. "What project?"

"Well, I've always been curious about Chaos Control and just recently I got the idea for it. Shadow tells that even if he's able to do it without an emerald, the Chaos Emeralds enhance the power of his Chaos Control to longer distances and even enabling him to bring others with him, so I grew curious." Tails closed his eyes while he began rambling. "I wondered if maybe the Chaos Emeralds brought together could perform a Chaos Control powerful enough to travel to the other side of the globe, maybe even out into space and beyond. That's when I started looking into it more and—"

Sonic lost interest with the excessive talk from Tails, sorry that he had asked. He held his head while an agonizing headache came on, hoping that something would save him from this while Tails obliviously continued.

Then a happy shrill interrupted Tails, which also made Sonic flinch painfully, "Oh SOOOOOOOOONIC!"

Gasping, Sonic was on his feet. "I didn't ask for _this!" _he yelled, taking off in a blur while a certain pink blur pursued closely behind.

Watching Sonic run from Amy, Tails sighed. It was a tad frustrating that none of his friends were interested in the things he had to talk about, especially when Sonic had the shortest attention span out of the group. When he had problems with his projects, he just couldn't get anyone to help him, so he was left on his own to find the answer to the problem, or just eventually drop the project.

Knuckles may know a lot more about the emeralds, but he wasn't patient enough. Shadow might be helpful too, but he was busy repairing the ARK after the Black Arms invasion. Amy was still obsessed with Sonic to even take time to think about anything else. Cream was just much too young to help at all. The Chaotix were too klutzy and could break his stuff. He wouldn't even think about going to Rouge since there was nothing she could do to help him; except maybe hunting down the emeralds, but even then, she'd call for a price that would make up for that.

The worth of the Chaos Emeralds was peerless, period.

Amy tackled down her icon of endless love to the ground with Sonic squirming fearfully. "Now you can't run from me, Sonic!" she laughed.

"TAILS, HELP ME!" Sonic cried out.

Tails grew more irritated. "Why should I?"

"BECAUSE SHE'LL TORTURE ME!"

The fox stood up sternly. "You brought it on yourself Sonic," he said, storming off.

Both hedgehogs stopped their shenanigans when they saw Tails stomping away. Shortly when he was gone, they exchanged blank, blinking looks. Sonic took the opportunity to shove Amy off and get back onto his feet, dusting himself off from all the wrestling on the ground he was forced into.

"…is something wrong with Tails?" Amy asked.

Sonic gave her a shrug of his shoulders. "Beats me." This confirmed that Sonic wasn't really listening at all.

Tails made it to his biplane parked in the city square and took off, while depression sunk in. He just wished that for once, his friends would listen to the things he wanted to share with them. He was so tired of being ignored when it came to his interests. The only way his friends were interested in the things he did were only if they benefitted them; like Extreme Gear for instance. Even then, they didn't care to learn about Extreme Gear and what made it work. All they cared about was to learn how to do flips and ration their fuel in terms of boosts.

Now that he was older and relying on himself more than Sonic, he realized how lonely he got sometimes. Sure, Sonic was cool to hang with, but Sonic wasn't the most social type and mostly cared to run around freely rather than sit in one place and talk; much less listen to Tails' lectures.

"…I wish there was someone like me to talk to," he murmured to himself.

If only there was someone who could think like Tails. Someone he could work with when he runs into a snag, and vice versa.

He sighed in disdain about his wishful thinking. He took these thoughts all the way back to his shop in Mystic Ruins, and even to bedtime; lying awake in his bed.

Looking out his window into the night, he stared at the blanket of stars above; more importantly to each of the brighter ones. Tails knew the constellations and different belts, so the idea of the 'wishing star' was irrational, but on this particular night, Tails was willing to believe in a wishing star.

"…I wish I had a friend to talk to," he murmured, picking out the brightest star he could find, "someone like me, who wants to learn." Maybe his eyes were playing tricks, but it looked like the star twinkled.

Somehow, Tails was too tired to question it, and was instead relieved that he was heard. Soon enough, he fell into a comfortable sleep.


	2. New Pet

Tails awoke to pleasant chirping from various Flickies perched on his window sill, and after a yawn, the fox climbed out of bed and groggily trudged through the halls of his house toward the kitchen where he would have breakfast.

Getting there, he discovered that his fridge door was open, and someone was fishing through the inside. Thinking it was Sonic, Tails groaned. "Sonic, don't you have someone else's fridge to raid?"

That someone jumped away from the fridge, and that instant, Tails realized with wide, surprised eyes that it wasn't Sonic.

"UH!" It was a girl he didn't know; a Mobian owl not too far from his age, carrying a variety of food in her arms like a jar of mayonnaise and a carton of orange juice.

Tails was flabbergasted. "…WHO ARE YOU?" he screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?"

"Uh, um," the owl girl grew nervous and dropped the things in her arms. The jar of mayo shattered, leaving a glob of mayo on the tile floor mixed with spilled orange juice, soaking the rest of the food she held. "Listen, I can explain—"

"—NEVER MIND!" Tails bellowed, pulling out a broom. "If you were trying to steal my food, then I want you out of my house!"

"Please," the owl pleaded, "I was only trying to…uh," it looked like she couldn't come up with an excuse.

Tails boiled up.

"_**OUT!"**_

The owl took off into the living room dodging an aerial frying pan from behind the couch, and then out the door with Tails following closely behind with his broom.

Some would usually stop there, but for some reason, Tails took it farther. He chased the owl girl down the hill and into the Mystic Ruins jungle, continuing to try and bat her down with the broom.

Maybe the frustration from yesterday was letting itself out.

"You're crazy!" the owl cried, struggling to keep away from Tails.

"You should talk!_ YOU'RE_ the one who waltzed into my house!" Tails retorted. He wanted to catch up to her and give her a what-for, so he kicked on his two tails in a helicopter twirl, picking up speed.

"EEP!" The owl saw him coming quickly and she desperately tried to run faster while it didn't bring her any better luck.

Then she tripped, falling flat on her face while Tails swooped right over her, taking him a minute to realize what happened.

Once it processed through his mind, he halted to a complete stop and took a u-turn to find her.

The owl girl sat up, or tried to anyway. She felt an unreal pain in her ankle, and looked down to see that her foot was caught in a bear trap. While she tried to pull it out, it just hurt even more. It hurt so much that she wanted to cry, and she was so scared that she could cry, because that scary fox wanted to hurt her.

That's what she did; she broke down into tears while the pain in her ankle worsened.

This is what Tails found when he made it back to her, wielding the broom in anger above…and then he stopped.

Seeing the owl bawling with her foot in the bear trap caused his anger to slowly simmer into guilt.

After watching this go on, Tails descended to the ground next to her with the broom in hand.

The owl saw him and jumped. "No, please don't hurt me!" she pleaded.

"Whoa, hey, it's okay!" Tails assured uneasily; worried at how much he succeeded in scaring her like that. "Listen, I'm going to help you out of there, okay?"

With a snivel, the owl nodded.

He was happy to have that broom there, because that gave him a way to help. He flipped it over and stuck the pole into the teeth of the trap, working to pry it open wide enough for her to slip her foot out. It took awhile, but soon enough she managed to wriggle her foot out to some relief.

Pulling out the broom stick, the trap snapped back together and Tails looked over at the owl with concern.

She held her ankle while sniveling some more. It was punctured a little by the teeth of the trap, resulting in a light mess of blood. "I-it hurts," she whimpered.

"Just settle down," Tails tried to comfort, still guilty that this happened at his fault. "You can't walk on it, so I'll have to carry you…is that okay?"

The owl rubbed her eyes and looked up at him. "…I guess so," she replied.

Tails brought her onto her feet and helped her limp all the way back through the jungle and to his shop, where he set her down on the couch. Then he took out a First Aid kit to bandage up her ankle. "I'm sorry this happened," Tails apologized shamefully. "I don't know what got into me."

"I guess you had a good reason," the owl admitted.

Tails' guilt was gone just as soon as he finished tending to her ankle. "But what were you doing in my fridge?" he asked her curiously.

"I needed to feed my Chao," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "I didn't know where to find any food, so…well, here was your house and…" she trailed off with a nervous chuckle, since the rest was self explanatory.

Tails smacked himself. "Don't you know that Chao don't eat our kind of food? Their stomachs are built only to digest a specific variety of fruits and nuts which contain the nutrients they need."

The owl looked at Tails in disbelief. "…you mean they don't eat people food?"

Tails eyed the owl in his own disbelief. "…you don't know how to take care of a Chao, do you?" he guessed.

"Nope! I just picked it up from the garden this morning!" the owl answered cheerfully. "They didn't tell me how to take care of it. The care lady just dropped it onto my lap and wished me and my Chao a happy companionship!"

Tails rubbed his face in exhaust remembering that it was still the morning. "Where is your Chao?" he asked.

"Oh, let me call her," the owl inhaled a long breath and then called out. **"PATCHES! C'MERE PATCHES!"**

So far, there was no reply.

Tails' fox hearing was now impaired though, as he plugged them with his fingers. "If you just got your Chao today, then I don't think it's trained to respond to commands either," he said, rubbing a finger in his ear in agony.

"Oh, right," the owl giggled sheepishly. "Well, Patches should be outside somewhere…"

Tails sighed, "I'll go look for…Patches." Leaving the owl alone in the living room, Tails ventured outside and started looking around. Luckily, it wasn't very long until he found who he was looking for.

A little Chao was quietly watching Tails' waterwheel turning round and round, preoccupied with sucking on its bulgy paw like an infant sucking its thumb. It took awhile for the Chao to notice Tails standing there, and turned curiously up to him. Patches was a neutral Chao, but instead of a sky blue color, it was a creamy, off-white color, highlighted with some light brown spots on its paws and tip of head, along with a browner bobbing ball. Tails figured the name must have come from the little turtle-neck sweater the Chao was adorned with because it was patched up like a quilt in some places.

Tails walked up to Patches and picked it up slowly, while Patches continued to stare curiously at Tails.

"Let's take you back inside," he murmured, doing just that.

"Chao?" Patches wondered with a small, gentle squeak.

Tails could determine from the voice that it was a female Chao. "Interesting…" he muttered.

Once he returned to the owl, he held up Patches. "Is this your Chao?" Tails asked.

The owl jumped in her seat like an ADHD kid. "Yep!" Then he held out her arms. "C'mere Patches! Come to Chloe!"

Patches just stared at the owl, now known as Chloe, with a blank look.

Tails expected as much. "Hey, listen," he told Chloe. "You don't look like you're in the condition to go anywhere, or take care of your Chao." Setting Patches down on the ground while getting another curious look, Tails went towards a phone. "I'm going to call a friend of mine and ask if they could take care of you and your Chao until you feel better," he said, picking it up and beginning to dial.

"No, wait!" Chloe said, getting a weird look from Tails. "Okay, so I'll need some taking care of, but why don't you look after Patches for me instead?"

Tails found the request strange. "Why do you want me to look after your Chao?"

"You already showed me that you know more about Chao care than I do," Chloe reasoned. "So she'll be just fine if you're taking care of her!"

_So it was a girl Chao after all,_ Tails mused. "But my friend Cream knows how to take care of Chao too," Tails argued calmly. "In fact, she has a Chao of her own."

"But I want YOU to take care of Patches!" protested Chloe, jumping in her seat again.

Tails knew that if she got riled up, her ankle would only get worse. "Okay, okay!" He eased, giving in just so Chloe would stop. Thankfully, she did. "Alright, I'll take care of Patches," Tails promised. "But I can't take care of you if I'm doing that, so is it okay that I call my friend to come take care of you instead?"

"Sure!" Chloe said.

Tails sighed, and made the call to Cream's house.

* * *

"Thanks so much Vanilla," Tails said, watching as she and Cream helped Chloe limp out of his house.

"You're quite welcome Tails," Vanilla said sweetly. "I also dropped off some supplies for taking care of Patches. They should be sitting in the living room."

"Okay," Tails said, waving to the three of them. "Thanks again!"

"Have fun Patches!" Chloe called to the Chao that sat by Tails' feet.

Once gone from visibility, Tails returned back inside with Patches struggling to her feet and following closely behind, watching the two tails sway back and forth with interest.

"Okay," Tails said, looking over the things sitting in the living room. As much as he surveyed, he saw a week's supply of Chao food, a small little bed, and some fortified Chao shampoos to bathe. While Tails knew what a Chao needed, he also knew that taking care of a Chao had more to do with experience than know-how.

As far as he knew, he didn't have any experience.

"Oh, why did I agree to this?" he moaned with his head hanging.

"Chao."

Tails felt something stroking his tails and looked to see Patches eying his two tails, feeling the soft fur and smiling. "Chao!"

Tails giggled. "Hey, s-stop it! Haha! It tickles!" He finally had enough sense to pull his tails away, and he got another blank look from Patches. With hands on his hips, he looked down at her. "What am I going to do with you?" he said.

Patches just started sucking on her paw again, looking back at Tails cutely.

Tails bought the cuteness with a smile. "Well, as far as a Chao goes, you _are_ kind of…adorable," he said. He wondered how he came to say that, since he was more a man of science than cute and cuddly Chaos.

Scratch that, he was a _boy_ of science. Tails was too bashful to call himself a man just yet…

That was beside the point, since Tails suddenly remembered the mess in the kitchen he had to clean up. Reluctantly, he went to see the mess of mayo and orange juice and proceeded to clean it up.

Patches watched from the doorway, wondering what Tails was doing. The methods of this fox boy certainly caught her interest, since they were different than the methods of her so-called "Master." Heck, Chloe wasn't much of a Master. After the Chao Garden, Chloe pretty much bounced her around until she got nauseated enough to throw up on her, and Chloe hadn't touched her since.

She simply followed Chloe around until they came to this place.

Growing hungry, Patches turned to the Chao food sitting in the living room and searched through it. She tossed away the Square fruit in disgust, and the Triangle fruit in indifference. She took a big whiff of the Round fruit though, which appealed to her appetite. It was gone in a matter of minutes, along with the other Round fruits.

Then there were some nuts she decided to nibble on, but she began to wish there were more Round fruits.

Tails had finished cleaning the mess and entered into the living room to find this. Looking around, he observed that all the Round fruits were gone and easily deduced that Patches must have eaten them. "Well, looks like you really like the Round fruit," he muttered. Then he made a mental note to get more later on.

A knocking at the front door called Patches' attention from the nuts with the curious glance that she developed.

"Already?" Tails moaned, walking up to it. He opened it to find Sonic.

"Hey Tails," he started, "You kinda left yesterday looking like a steamed veggie. Was something wrong?"

Tails just gave Sonic a hint of a glower, wondering if he was listening to the problem he was having, but he put on a small smile. "Don't worry about it Sonic," he said.

"You sure?"

"Yep."

Sonic lightened up. "Okay, well, can I come in?"

"Sure," Tails said, inviting the blue hedgehog inside and closing the door behind them.

Sonic made it to Tails' living room and his eyes fell upon the many Chao necessities on the ground. He was confused, until he turned and spotted Patches staring back at him. A smirk crossed his face. "Hey Tails, you never told me you got a Chao!"

"Sonic, wait!" Tails said, rushing in just in time to see Sonic pick up Patches.

"This one's a real cutie," he chuckled, petting Patches' head as he held her, which the Chao didn't seem to mind that much. "Got a name?"

"…her name's Patches," Tails muttered.

"It's a girl eh?" Sonic let out an amused laugh while Patches cooed happily from the petting. "Well, when I said you should think about getting a girlfriend, I never expected this!"

Tails turned away to hide the fact he was turning red at that remark. "She's not my Chao!" he said, facing Sonic again.

"Oh, so she's your new girlfriend's Chao?" Sonic guessed, teasing him.

After another sigh, Tails went ahead and told him the events that happened this morning.

After he explained, Sonic set Patches back onto the ground, leaving the Chao to crawl back to the nuts she was previously eating. "So this…Chloe is at Vanilla's and Cream's, and she left her Chao to you?" he wondered. "You know, that sounds kinda weird considering she was taking your food."

"Tell me about it," Tails moaned.

Sonic just gave Tails a big, teasing grin. "Sooooo…she's NOT your girlfriend?"

"NO!" Tails yelled, which made Patches jump.

Sonic rolled over on the floor, laughing. Then something bonked him on the head, ceasing his laughter as he looked over. Patches was standing with a nut in hand, which could lead them to believe she had thrown a nut at Sonic. Patches had gotten the wrong idea of the situation, and was giving Sonic a glare.

Though coming from a Chao, it was hardly intimidating.

"No, Patches," Tails scolded, coming over and picking her up. "Sonic is a friend. We don't hurt friends."

"Chao!" Patches was more interested cuddling with Tails in his arms.

"Wha?" Tails was surprised.

Sonic got up, and laughed again. "It looks like Patches really likes you Tails!"

Tails looked down at the Chao and started griping, "Oh, who am I kidding Sonic? I don't really know how to raise a Chao! I don't even know how I got tangled up in this mess!" Patches ignored his complaints, purring in his arms.

"It shouldn't be that bad Tails," Sonic said. "Cream takes care of Cheese with ease, and she's only 6." He grinned proudly at the rhyme he just made on the spot.

Tails was not amused, but he had a point. After all, it could be worse. Instead of taking a liking to him, Patches could hate Tails' guts and rip him apart like a wild animal…

…an image that Tails forbade himself to think up again.

"Well, I gotta run," Sonic said. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't depressed or something." Tails didn't get a chance to respond because Sonic went ahead and zipped away, leaving a whirlwind in his home.

"…gee, thanks," Tails murmured, still holding the affectionate Patches.


	3. Patches learns her first words

Lunchtime came, and Tails returned with more Round fruits that were instantly gone the minute they appeared in Patches' sights. Tails had to find a place to hide them and save them as congratulatory treats rather than the main course of food; Round fruits were kind of expensive.

So against her consent, Patches was given more nuts to eat.

After Tails had eaten his own lunch, he took Patches with him into the actual shop portion of his house, which was like a very large garage. Both Tornados were parked here; the first one which was an orange bi-plane, and the second blue one that transformed into the walker.

All around where numerous shelves lined with many tools, and a couple other workbenches for many different things. One was an Extreme Gear station, where Knuckles' broken gear was sitting. It was broken because Knuckles had gotten mad having lost a match and…well, a gear snapped in two was the result.

Another workbench had a little gadget that was in pieces. Tails remembered it was the Chaos Emerald Radar that had needed a tune-up, and he cursed himself for forgetting about it.

Tails brought Patches to the work bench that was lined with notes and blueprints. Here, he had been brainstorming whatever latest idea he had conjured up; which was the idea that Chaos Control could promote travel to other dimensions.

"You can look around if you want," He told Patches as he set her down. "But I would appreciate it if you didn't touch anything."

"Chao?" Patches responded, somewhat questionably, wondering what the fox boy doing, and what all the papers were on the desk. When Tails didn't answer and got back to his blueprints, Patches couldn't help but watch him for a minute.

Then she got bored and started wandering around.

Tails was somewhat relieved Patches left him to think, but every now and then he kept an eye on the Chao to make sure she didn't get into anything she shouldn't.

Patches looked at the planes in the shop in awe. She wondered if these were those big metal birds that people made so they could fly too. These ones looked kind of goofy, but they looked pretty cool too. She figured that the fox boy must have made these. She touched the smooth, cold surface of them, tingling at the icy cold touch.

Patches drifted over to the workbench with the broken Extreme Gear. She didn't even know what this thing was. It looked like it must have been broken though, because most things didn't have wires sticking out so messily.

She left that alone and came to the workbench with the Chaos Emerald Radar that was taken apart. This must have been broken too, but this looked more interesting than the heap of Extreme Gear sitting on the other work bench.

Like Tails said though, she shouldn't touch.

Patches left that and continued to look curiously at all the tools that were hanging up in the area.

_She sure is awfully quiet,_ Tails thought, taking the usual glance at her before looking back at his notes. _For having a hyperactive owner, Patches sure is well-behaved…_

Unfortunately Tails thought too soon, for when he glanced at Patches again, she saw her picking up a drill. Fearfully, he dashed to snatch it out of her hands. "Didn't I tell you not to touch anything?" he uttered.

"Chao," Patches muttered.

Thankfully, the drill hadn't been plugged in, but Tails set it on a high shelf that Patches couldn't get to. The instant he turned around, he discovered Patches wasn't where she was. Now she was sitting on one of the wings of the orange Tornado, peering into the cockpit.

Luckily she wasn't doing anything other than looking.

"Maybe she's just curious…" Tails supposed, rubbing his chin with a thumb. "…well gee, I wish I knew what she was thinking."

DING! An idea sparked in Tails' head instantly, with a growing smile.

He rushed back to his blueprints, jotting down the notes and the basic design of it. This sudden rush certainly caught Patches' attention, and she joined Tails by sitting on his head, watching what was going on.

It was amazing the speed that Tails had gone from drawing it, to collecting the different parts like a headset and some other unrecognizable things he gathered for this invention.

If Patches didn't know any better, she'd think that Tails was conquering this invention like magic, and that he was a wizard; in fact, she did. She gawked at what Tails came up with at the end.

"Nice," Tails murmured. "I only made it in seven hours!" That was good time, and at a glance, Tails saw that the digital clock read a measly 8:52.

In his hands it looked like earphones with a mic; which was the headset part of the contraption, while the rest of it was various attachments like a couple antennas from each earphone, a volume nob, and etc…

"Chao?" Patches wanted to touch this invention, and surprisingly enough, Tails allowed her.

"Try it on," Tails said.

Patches looked at it. Try it on? Where did it go?

Tails laughed at her puzzled look, and he took it to properly place it on her head. Then he flipped the ON/OFF toggle ON. "Now hopefully, this translator will not only be able to translate what you're saying into English," Tails said, "but whatever I'm saying will also be translated for you to understand what I'm saying."

Patches looked blankly at Tails again.

"So, is it working Patches?" Tails asked, hoping to get a response.

Patches' eyes lit up. She understood what that fox boy was saying, somehow. Surely this was the purpose of this strange thing he made. Naturally, she responded.

"What is this thing you put on my head, fox boy?"

She covered her mouth with her paws, but that didn't stop her surprise; and it didn't stop Tails' surprise either.

Then he let out an excited laugh. "Ahahah! It works!"

"What works?" Patches was startled by what Tails meant. It only made Tails smile, as that confirmed that Patches could understand him.

"Hey, its okay Patches," Tails assured. "There's no need to be scared. I just made a translator so we can understand each other and what we're saying."

"…what's a translator?" Patches asked.

"Well, it's something that can change a language to another language, so that people who can't speak one language can still understand what they're saying," Tails explained. "Sometimes it can be a person too, but they have to learn how to speak two different languages in order to—" Tails stopped himself, knowing how lost someone could be when he started to ramble on with explanations.

Patches eyed him curiously. "…in order to what?"

"…well, in order to change the languages for people," Tails finished.

"Wow, really?" Patches was really amazed to be told this. "Is there a lot of languages out there that needs a translator, fox boy?"

"…yeah," Tails said, sitting down beside Patches and getting comfortable. "There are actually over 7,000 languages in the entire world currently."

"That's a lot!" Patches commented, sitting herself in Tails' lap. "How come there are so many languages, fox boy?"

"Hey, there," Tails stopped Patches there. "My name's Tails. You don't have to call me 'fox boy.'"

"Tails? That's a weird name."

"Well, it's not my real name; it's just a nickname. My real name is Miles Prower."

"Well Tails makes more sense. You have two tails!"

"Yeah, that's how I got the nickname."

At first, Patches had obvious, somewhat patience-trying questions, but soon it escalated to very complicated topics that Tails was very much happy to talk about. Soon, he had forgotten all about the time as he talked to Patches, who was happy that she learned so much in one night.

From names, it got back to the languages, and then it went to cultures, and different parts of history, and then it went to the various great inventions in history and eventually, Tails found himself talking about electricity and how a circuit works when he noticed Patches yawn.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tails chuckled. "Are you tired?"

"A little," Patches said. "But I still want you to keep going."

Tails looked at the digital clock to discover it was 1:09; scratch that, it just flipped to 1:10am.

"…nah, its way past bedtime for us," Tails said, standing up with Patches in his arms. "We need our sleep."

"…okay," Patches responded to some disdain, as Tails flipped off the light in his shop. While he walked down the hall, Patches cuddled to him in his arms. "You treat me much better than the Master does."

"The Master?" Tails inquired. "…oh, you mean that owl girl?"

"Yes," Patches said.

Tails blinked. It was a strange thing receiving that kind of compliment, especially from a Chao, but it meant something to him to hear that. Why it did, Tails wasn't quite sure, since he didn't exactly give her the attention that Cream usually would. Even then, he gave Patches a smile.

He made it to his bedroom, and set Patches down into her little Chao bed, which Tails had taken in here earlier and set next to his own bed.

"Tails," Patches said. "How long will it be until the Master comes back for me?"

"I don't know," Tails replied, crawling into bed and pulling the covers up. "When her foot heals I guess. That probably won't be very long though, depending on what kind of report we get from a doctor's examination." Vanilla did mention that they were going to take Chloe to check her foot out.

"Okay," Patches answered. While Tails got comfortable in his bed, the silence was broken.

"Tails?"

"Yeah?" he answered, turning his head.

"What do I do with this…translator?" Patches asked, tapping the headphones on her head. "It's kinda big and it might be uncomfortable to sleep in…"

"Go ahead and just take it off," Tails said. "If you keep it next to you when you sleep, then you can put it back on in the morning."

"Ooooooooooooh," Patches said. "That's a good idea." At first she struggled to slip it off her head with her paws, but she managed it. Setting it next to the bed, she turned to Tails with a smile. "Chao!" her normal chao voice returned.

Tails smiled, and yawned. "Yeah…goodnight to you too, Patches…" he mumbled tiredly, lying his head back down on the pillow. It wasn't long at all until Tails was asleep, and it also wasn't long until Patches followed, cuddling warmly in her own bed.


	4. An invitation

The sun was just setting in the horizon, basking the sky in an orange glow...such a familiar orange glow. The more he looked at it, the more it reminded him of the events that happened not long ago; how it reminded him of that realm bathed in that orange golden light, and the black specks scattered through the air. The twilight was a very curious thing, it was. He remembered what Midna said about how there was a certain beauty to it.

He could see it more and more.

His beautiful scarlet mare, Epona, carried him, trudging together across the Lanayru Province, more particularly through the meadow that was the Hylian Field. Even then, he could still smell a faint salty breeze that hailed from the more northern part of the province where the Zoras were. Wtih his newfound duties, it seemed that he traveled more and more, back to the places that reminded him of his adventure. From the tall Death Mountain to the deep, crystal Hylia Lake, to the hot, dry Gerudo Desert...to the top of that tall tower-

-Epona suddenly cried out, and jerked, snapping the hylian out of his thoughts. There was nothing in particular that made the horse do that, but maybe it was a reminder to concentrate on the destination: Going back home to Ordon Village, and most importantly, back to the ranch where the horse had fresh hay waiting for her. Sighing, he gave her a pat on her neck to assure her they would get there soon enough. Then he turned her southern and galloped on.

Upon reaching the Faron Woods, he trotted by the young man with the bird's nest in his hair, sitting near his boiling cauldron of nasty concoction he bothered to call "soup." Even this man admitted that it wasn't all that good, but it was something. He gave the hylian a friendly wave, and was replied with a simple smile, as he continued on into the woods.

A young boy stood at the entrance of the village, waiting anxiously, but patiently to see if he would return. He had been there for hours since the late afternoon...and once he caught a glimpse of the red mare approaching, a big smile grew on his face. "Link, you're back!" the boy exclaimed.

Link smiled down at him with a nod, and Epona pranced into the village, garnering the attention of the other villagers; particularly a girl with a dirty blond cowlick at the bottom of her head. "Link, you're late!" she huffed, crossing her arms.

Link's smile faded to a nervous frown, and he dismounted Epona with a pat on her neck. He wanted to show Ilia that he at least took good care of Epona this time; heck, he was on his way to the ranch to feed her.

Ilia's pout dropped to a bit of a smile...just a little one. "Let's go feed Epona, and then we'll tell my father the news you got from the castle."

* * *

"Princess Zelda's coronation, hm?" Ilia's father, the mayor, remarked, while he read over a scroll.

Link nodded. From what he was told, Princess Zelda had her coronation to be Queen of Hyrule once before, but it was interrupted by Zant, an evil ruler from the Twilight Realm, and his invasion. Since then, they had never been able to do it with all the chaos going on; not like that was their main concern in all of it. But now that Link had gotten everything taken care of, they _could _do it, so now they were finally planning it.

And as gratitude for what Link had done for Hyrule, he was the guest of honor for this event.

Ilia's mouth hung open wider and wider at what she was reading. Not only was Link the guest of honor, but he would be allowed to bring someone with him. Maybe...a _date? _Ilia could swoon over the idea of taking her first steps into Hyrule Castle, with her arm linked around Link's. She would wear the most fabulous gown, and those around them would stare in wonder at who the fair maiden was that was in the company of the hero of Hyrule. It would be every girl's dream come true! Although she kept herself composed at such an exciting thought; she didn't want her father or Link to question her behavior or she might never calm down.

"Well, this looks fun," the mayor chuckled, rolling up the scroll and setting it on the table. "I think Hyrule's been needing a proper rule for a long time; not that Princess Zelda hasn't been a good leader. She really has. It's good to see her finally become Queen."

Link nodded in agreement.

"You're very lucky boy," the mayor snickered. "Being the guest of honor? That's quite an..._honor! _Ahaha!"

Link smiled nervously. The pun wasn't in the best taste, but the mayor was a jolly man, he was. There was no need to spoil his fun.

"Guess we'll have to dress you up fancy-like then," he continued. "I know you have that green tunic of yours that you wore for your heroism, but that's not particularly the fanciest you've got, boy. I'm sure that Colin's mom might be able to help you whip up something handsome." Then he chuckled again. "...if you ask real nicely."

Link smiled warmly.

"I wanna come!" That voice jumped the mayor, and he whirled around as well as Ilia to find a group of munchkins around the table, reading the scroll.

"Oooh! I wanna be like a princess!" cooed a little girl with short brown wavy hair.

"Beth, you're already a princess," remarked a boy close to her age with scraggily hair and bushy round eye brows. "You act like one because you're so spoiled rotten!"

"Am not!" protested the same girl referred to as Beth, setting her hands on her hips in a huff.

"Are too," argued the boy.

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"ARE NOT!" Beth stamped her foot.

"Guys, can't we calm down?" muttered a timid boy with blond hair in a bowl-cut. "I'm not sure if Link can take all of us..."

"Nobody asked you Colin!" snapped the boy, making the blond boy flinch.

"Colin's right, Talo," The mayor said, putting distance between the children. "Link probably wouldn't be able to take all of you...maybe if you're behaving like this."

"Aw, please Link? Please take us with you!" Beth pestered. "We promise we'll behave! I just wanna see the castle, just once!"

"Yeah, pretty pleeeeeease?" Talo knelt down at Link's feet with his hands clenched together and up like he was practically praying Link to take them; in essence, he was. Link smiled again, because those kids were just so darn amusing. Not that there's anything funny about their bickering, though...

...finally, he nodded.

"WOO!" Talo shot up to his feet with his hands thrown into the air.

"Link, we love you!" Beth exclaimed, hugging his middle.

"...really?" Colin asked in amazement. "You'd take us with you?"

Link nodded to Colin.

Ilia, in the meantime, didn't know whether to feel disappointed or happy for the kids. _SHE_ wanted to be the one to come with Link, but if he was taking them, then she couldn't. It sure would be a great experience for them to behave in public for once...but Ilia almost wanted to cry. Her dreams were shattering...

That is, until Link approached her and put a hand on her shoulder with a friendly smile.

"...w-what?" she muttered in surprise. "...you mean...I can come too?"

Link nodded. Then he looked at her father in wondering.

"Yes, Link," the mayor chuckled. "You have my permission to take my daughter."

Her dreams were piecing together again from their shattered state, and she looked at Link with hopeful, glittering eyes in speechlessness. She hadn't prepared for this moment in all of her day-dreaming, in the case that it might have come true like it just did. She was just trying to process the information in her mind and live in the moment.

"Hello? Hyrule to Ilia, calling," Talo joked, knocking against her head.

Ilia scowled and pushed Talo's hand away. "Don't do that!"

Talo laughed.

"What about Malo?" Colin asked curiously.

Talo shrugged. "If anything, he was probably already invited since his shop is in Castle Town."

"Good point..." Colin murmured.

Link rolled up the scroll on the table and scooped it up. Then he regarded more nods to everyone in the room while he headed for the door.

"See you later, Link!" Talo called when Link left out the door.

Ilia, in the meantime, returned to being in her frozen, shocked state. "...he asked me to come...he really asked me..."

* * *

Link decided to drop by the ranch for a bit; see to Epona, maybe see if the man that runs the ranch needed his goats herded again. Stubborn little creatures they were; more stubborn than even Epona sometimes…

…or Ilia…

Link just smiled to himself at the joking thought, but he didn't mean any ill will toward Ilia. She was a good friend. Good friends can sometimes joke with each other…but in Ilia's case, she was sometimes a little sensitive toward jokes; either that, or she just took things too seriously. When it came to Epona, she gave him the riot act almost every day for something little…boy, did that girl love his horse.

It was alright though…Link was willing to put up with it. Ilia was just being Ilia.

"Link?" He turned around from where he was leaning against the fence and saw the very person he was thinking of walking up to him. Link gave her a greeting smile.

Ilia came over and perched up onto the fence to sit, shyly twirling with her hair. "…uh…how's Epona?" she asked, just trying to start conversation; she was really trying to figure out a way to tell Link something very important. Link reached into his pocket and took out a whistle; a very special one that had a horse-shoe shape to its end. Ilia had made this whistle for him, and it made her smile a bit when he played that little song to call Epona to their side. The mare started nibbling on Ilia's shoulder affectionately, and it made the girl giggle.

Link only smiled, enjoying the sight of a simple and sweet moment like this.

Ilia gave Epona a few pats and pets, and eventually the horse decided to wander off, leaving the two hylians to the fence. "…My father talked to Colin's mom," Ilia began a bit awkwardly. "She's going to help dress all of us up for the…coronation."

Link nodded.

"And…well, it means that she'll have a lot of work on her hands since the baby needs to be watched," Ilia said, twirling her hair again. She looked nervous. "She's got to tailor a lot of people…" Link could tell that Ilia was being unusually nervous. He put a hand on her arm, hoping to comfort her. This only made her a little shyer. "Oh!" She averted her gaze to the sky, trying to smile. "But I suppose it won't take her very long will it? The children won't ask for much, and I'm sure that she'll need the most time for your tunic after all!"

Ilia was getting very nervous. She was screwing it up…trying to talk to Link was like trying to breathe underwater suddenly; she couldn't find her air and she was feeling a rise of panic in her. She saw him tilting his head curiously at her, and she felt a cold sweat come over her.

Then Link put his hand on her hand, and those nervous feelings died down.

"…Link…thank you for inviting me," she suddenly had the strength to speak, and she looked at Link with a smile. "…going to the castle…it's so exciting! I guess I just don't know how to handle it is all…"

Link nodded in agreement.

"…well…" Ilia climbed down from the fence, taking her hand from Link's. "I should probably go see if my father needs help with anything," she said, nodding a little.

Link only nodded again in understanding.

"…um…bye!" she spun around and hurried down the hill, while Link waved her on.

Sometimes, Link didn't understand the way Ilia acted toward him, but sooner or later, she'd tell him why that was. It wasn't that he was totally clueless…it's just that he didn't want to push her into saying something she might not want to say. He wanted to wait until she was ready.

Ilia, in the meantime, was cursing herself fiercely for giving up so easily like that! Why couldn't she just tell Link? She's had these feelings for him for a long time, but ever since he became such a big, legendary hero throughout Hyrule, they bloomed into something so scary and yet so exhilarating that it was hard for her just to talk to him normally. It felt so awkward, and she worried more and more what Link thought about her.

Did he think she was weird? Was he only asking her to come to be nice? So she wouldn't feel left out if the children could come but she couldn't?

No…no, surely he must feel the same way! He came to her rescue when that poor Zora boy was hurt and none of those cowardly castle guards dared to escort them through all those monsters to get him to Kakariko. He went through so much trial just to help her regain her lost memories…

…but she remembered something that was only important to his journey…she remembered something about a city in the sky…

Oh, it was all so confusing and frustrating. Ilia got so wrapped up with it that she stomped up the porch of her home and entered inside slamming the door behind her.


	5. Questions and Epiphanies

Tails felt like he had a wonderful sleep. Waking up in the morning was like a cheery greeting from an old friend, opening his eyes to a welcoming song of Flickies once more and the shine of the daytime sun through his window.

When he moved his arm, he felt something wrapped up and tucked between his arm and body, and he looked in wondering at what it could be. It turned out to be Patches curled right up next to him and snoozing comfortably. Tails was a bit surprised to see Patches all snuggled up to him like this, and he felt tempted to just pick Patches up and put her back in her bed, so he wouldn't disturb her…

…but he was more tempted just to leave her be and watch her nap like this. Tails smiled to himself, looking at a heart-warming sight like this. Yes, he admitted that this was quite adorable… and the fact that this Chao actually grew interested in all the things he was talking about made him feel… wanted.

…no, surely it was just a coincidence, wishing on that star…

Tails frowned then, thinking; there's no such thing as a wishing star. Sure, him and Sonic have seen a variety of miracles and magic… but a wishing star still felt too good to be true.

Besides, Patches belonged to Chloe. It wasn't like she was _his _Chao.

Tails snapped out of his thoughts when he watched Patches yawn and squeak a little when she opened her eyes. "Good morning Patches," he said.

"…mmm Chao chao…" Patches mumbled tiredly.

"…yeah, it's probably still a little early, huh?" Tails figured. Patches made no reply and just snuggled closer to him, falling back asleep. "…yeah…I guess we can sleep in," Tails whispered to himself, laying his head onto the bed and closing his eyes.

"Yo Tails! You here?"

Tails opened his eyes, and groaned a little bit, pushing himself to sit up. Patches flinched and opened her eyes again, becoming fully awake. She heard a new voice, and she didn't seem to recognize it in any way. Did Tails know whose voice that was?

"Just a minute Knuckles!" Tails called, stretching his arms and back. Then he let out a yawn while he stood up.

Now Patches wondered even more; who's Knuckles?

"C'mon Patches," Tails said, opening the door. Patches crawled her way off the bed and fluttered down to the floor near her Chao bed, where the translator was sitting. She wanted to make sure to put it back on before she forgot. Afterward, the two left the bedroom into the living room, where this Knuckles was standing.

Patches saw that he wasn't blue like Sonic, or a golden yellow color like Tails; this one was a red echidna. When Knuckles saw the two of them, his view turned to the Chao with the weird contraption on her head, staring at it blankly. "…Tails, since when did you get a Chao?" he asked.

"It's not mine," Tails sighed. "I'm Chao-sitting for someone that got injured."

"…wouldn't Cream be better at that kind of thing?" Knuckles asked in more confusion, getting only a shrug from Tails.

"Are you Knuckles?" Patches asked.

Knuckles jumped with a yelp, shooting a wide-eyed gawk at the Chao. "Did that thing just TALK?"

"It's the translator that I made for her," Tails said, smiling a little bit in amusement at Knuckles' reaction. "She can understand us and we can understand her."

"Yeah, because there's over 7,000 languages in the world!" Patches added, raising her paws.

"…whuh?" Knuckles had no idea where that comment came from; that was totally out of the blue and unrelated.

"…well, anyway," Tails cleared his throat to steal Knuckles' attention and change the subject. "I'm still waiting on Vanilla to call me how bad her ankle is. They're hoping that it's not infected…"

"…what happened anyway?" Knuckles asked.

So Tails went ahead and explained what happened once again. Patches, in the meantime, started to grow bored and she wandered to explore. She remembered the way to Tails' workshop from yesterday and she wandered her way into the large shop with the metal birds that Tails told her were called "airplanes." Patches started to wonder just how those things could fly, and hopefully Tails could tell her how they fly.

She liked all the things that Tails told her yesterday. Those were interesting things and she never knew that things were like that. All she knew was that things were simpler than that in the Chao Garden; you get fed, you get to play with toys, and there were lots of other Chaos to play with.

…knowing that there were things more than that made Patches feel strange…it made her want to look for different things and to find out things. What was the feeling that Tails called it?

Curiosity, that's what it was.

She toddled by the planes and found herself looking at the drill that she remembered picking up. Tails apparently didn't want her to touch it. "I wonder why Tails didn't want me to touch that," she spoke out loud, and afterward, she proceeded to chew on her paw while she wandered some more.

She encountered the blueprints that she saw Tails looking at yesterday, and all the drawn things on it confused her. She didn't know that Tails could draw, and they all looked like very complicated drawings; something that she would never be able to know how to do. Sure, Chaos could draw, but not something like that.

"Maybe if I practice, I could learn how to draw like that!" Patches uttered out, growing excited.

So she grabbed a pencil and some blank paper.

Back in the main room, Tails finished explaining what happened and Knuckles rubbed his chin. "…well, hope she's not too badly hurt."

"So, I'm assuming you came to see how your board's been?" Tails said with a sigh.

Knuckles chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"…well, with what happened, I haven't really gotten to it," Tails said. "But since you're here, I could easily get on it so you'd have it back. How much time are you willing to spare?"

"…not sure; I don't want to leave the Master Emerald alone for that long…" Knuckles murmured. "…uh, by the way, where did the Chao go? Wasn't it standing right behind you?"

Tails looked behind him, noticing that Patches was gone. "…she likes to wander I guess," Tails said. "Knowing anything, she went to my shop. C'mon," and he and Knuckles walked through the house.

They both found Patches on the floor with a pencil in her hand. The Chao didn't notice them standing over her, watching her quietly. She was trying to copy the complicated drawings that Tails had made. Admittedly, for a Chao's hand, (er, paw) it wasn't all that bad. It was a messier rendition of everything, but other than that, Tails could see the effort Patches was trying to put into it.

Tails rubbed his own chin thoughtfully. _You know…for a Chao, Patches seems to be very unique…ever since I put that translator on her, she's wanted to know more and more…and here she is, trying to copy my rough drafts of other projects I haven't even started on yet…if anything, she shows considerable independence for a Chao._

Patches finally noticed them when she looked up. "Look! It's not like your drawings Tails, but I tried!"

Knuckles raised his eyebrows, impressed. "That's the best I've ever seen a Chao draw."

"Really?" Patches gave Knuckles a look of innocent amazement. "You mean, you watch other Chaos draw?"

"…well, no but I've seen their drawings," Knuckles said. "To be honest, they amount to the art skills of a kindergartener…"

"…what's a kindergartener?" Patches asked.

"…uh…it's a level in school," Knuckles replied, giving Patches an odd look.

Patches blinked. "…what's school?"

Tails mentally sighed. _Oh boy…here we go._

"It's where you learn things," Knuckles said.

"Oh really?" Patches grew excited. "Does that make Tails a school?"

Tails' eyes burst wide open at that, and Knuckles laughed so hard he got weak at the knees and nearly fell over, clutching his aching abdomen.

"…um…no Patches, I'm not a school," Tails cleared his throat in embarrassment. "A school is a place. Not a person."

"…oh…" Patches was confused at the laughing Knuckles who tried to calm himself down, though he had trouble with it.

"…but there are teachers at a school," Tails added. "They are people, and they are the ones that teach the things you would learn."

"…so, you're not a school; you're a teacher," Patches said.

"…in a way, yeah," Tails answered. "I'm not a teacher, but I can teach you things. Anybody can teach someone anything."

"Just like you teached me that light bulbs run on a current and English was made from all different kinds of languages!" Patches laughed.

Now Knuckles was the confused one, and since he managed to stop laughing, he just gave Patches the same odd look.

"Taught."

"What?" Patches looked at Tails with a tilted head.

"…Taught is the correct word to use, Patches," Tails repeated. "I taught you that light bulbs run on currents and that English was a mutt language. You have you use the past-tense."

"…what's past-tense?"

Knuckles grit his teeth. All these questions were starting to annoy him…it felt like nails grinding against his ear drums. Any time Tails would go off on his rambles, that's what it would feel like. This Chao though, it was like Charmy with as many questions. Only it seemed even more stupid…

"A term in English," Tails said, and he noticed Knuckles getting tense. "Look, I'll tell you about it later. I've got something I need to do for Knuckles, so, can you behave?"

"…what do I do to behave?" Patches asked.

"…sit here and draw and uh…" Tails didn't want to have to tell Patches this, but, "…maybe…not ask questions while I'm in the middle of doing something?"

Patches blinked. Tails told her that it was okay for Patches to ask questions, but she could tell his echidna friend was getting impatient. She nodded. "Okay."

So that released Tails to go fix Knuckles' board, and while Knuckles and Tails bickering about the necessity to take care of Extreme Gear, Patches drew quietly in her corner, occasionally glancing every now and then at them.

She didn't understand why Knuckles got so angry so easily. Tails was telling Knuckles that it was important not to break it if you were mad, but it didn't seem like Knuckles was listening to him. Patches wondered if Knuckles was really his friend or not. Tails was doing a nice thing and fixing something for him, but Knuckles didn't act very thankful for it. That didn't seem like a very friendly thing for Knuckles to do.

There might have been a lot of things that she didn't know, but being a lovable, domesticated Chao, it was part of her nature to be a nice, kind, friendly creature. Call it intuition…but Patches really wished that Knuckles could've been nicer to Tails for doing something that he didn't have to.

That's when she stumbled upon some more of Tails drawings…and these ones she saw weren't filled up on the paper like the other ones. Maybe…these ones weren't finished? She looked at Tails, and then at the drawings.

Maybe…she could finish these drawings for him.

None of it really made any sense to her…but it looked like a lot of lines, and after drawing a lot, she was able to draw some pretty straight lines. So she got to work, thinking long and hard at what kind of lines she'd draw.

After hours of hard labor, Tails held up a finished red Extreme Gear. "There you are Knuckles," and he held it to Knuckles for him to take. "Now remember, take better care of it okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I know," Knuckles grumbled sorely. "…maybe I just won't race that big grey bird brain next time…"

Tails felt tired after all of that. Storm the Albatross was the closest thing to a rival that Knuckles had besides Sonic, and Rouge didn't really count because of her flirtatious interactions with Knuckles. It was hard to really tell if the girl was just doing it to tease him, distract him to get the Master Emerald…or if she really meant it.

He was, like, eight years old. He was smart enough to be mature about it, but he still wasn't very fond of it.

Anyhow, Tails would agree that maybe Knuckles shouldn't race Storm so much, but then he glanced over at Patches to check on her…and seeing what was in her possession, he gasped.

"Patches, NO! Not those drawings!" He uttered, running to swipe them away from the Chao.

Patches looked up at him in confusion, and Tails looked at the drawings in disdain. "…oh no…I'll have to redraw it again…" he whined.

Knuckles looked over his shoulder at it.

He tilted his head.

"…looks like a…house…kinda…maybe."

Tails felt frustrated, but unlike Knuckles, he had good self-control over anger. He looked at Patches with a serious look. "Patches, I really didn't want you to draw on this…it was a really important drawing and I didn't want anyone to touch it because I wasn't finished with it."

Patches' eyes widened at that. She had no idea she wasn't supposed to do that. "…Tails, I'm sorry," the Chao said. "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to draw on them."

Tails stared at that cute, adorable, innocent face, and he let out a soft breath, feeling his frustration simmer down. Was it the apology, or just the fact that he couldn't stay mad at something so cute? He just wasn't sure.

"Well, I'm heading out Tails!" Knuckles said, tucking the board under his arm. "See ya later!"

"Bye Knuckles," Tails said, waving at him while the echidna left the shop.

Patches gave Tails a sad look. Tails still didn't look very happy. "…are you mad at me, Tails?"

"Hm?" Tails looked back at Patches in astonishment. "…no, I'm not mad at you. Why would you ask that, Patches?"

"…because I did something I wasn't supposed to, and you didn't like it," Patches answered.

Tails looked at her a moment longer… and smiled. "…no Patches. I'm not mad at you. It's like you said; you didn't know about it…and to be honest, it was my fault for telling you not to ask questions. You could have taken the drawing to me and asked if you could finish it, so we could've avoided it, but there was no harm done."

"…so…when there's something I'm not sure about like that, then I come ask you a question after all?" Patches asked.

Tails nodded. "No matter what, Patches, you can always ask me a question and I'll be willing to answer it as best as I can. Sometimes there might be questions that I don't even know myself, but you only ask questions so you can know more things."

Patches smiled.

* * *

Today was a very uneventful day, and it came to a quick end. By early evening, Patches was in her little Chao bed snoozing soundly, and Tails was staying up a bit longer, looking at the drawings that Patches made while lost in thought. Tails liked to think, especially when there was peace and quiet. He was able to keep his mind sharp if he thought all the time, although right now he was thinking about when Vanilla would call to update him on Chloe.

What a strange girl…just walking into his house to invade his fridge, and while she picked up a Chao, she didn't know a single thing about them.

Well, Chloe sure made an interesting pic for a Chao…each drawing he looked over that Patches did grew smoother and smoother. Sure, they were all still stick figures (some with two tails, which he could easily tell whom of) but the lines were noticeably finer. This Chao was a quick study…

…first all the questions, and the thirst for knowledge. Now evidence that this Chao could put her mind to something and get better and better…

"Hm…" it actually made him curious…but he knew that if he stayed up all night wondering that, it wouldn't do him any favors.

Finally, he brought up the ones that he got a bit frustrated over. These were the ones about his Chaos Control theories that he was trying to explain to Sonic the other day. Basically he was wondering how he could harness their Chaos Control to create a wormhole gateway to travel to other places. It was a noble thought of science, but there weren't very many leads for him going on; especially when it came to creating an actual invention that could enable that kind of travel. The emeralds were too big to stick in a remote kind of device, and though a gate seemed a most likely explanation after all the sci-fi films and series he's seen, he had no idea how to create a gate. These were all just theories, and his own standards of invention were that if it worked in theory, then he would build and test it for real.

His problem just is that he hasn't been able to calculate a possible theory yet. He was stumped on a few things.

Thinking about all of this, and looking at Patches' additions to them…

Tails wasn't sure why, but maybe after taking a break so long, he had a fresh mind to think on this again. when he looked at his drawings, he squinted.

Somehow, someway…something started to click.

To Patches, these were just simple lines; an abstract kind of art, really (which impressed Tails) but with his inventive mind, the lines all formed together, creating something…

…it was purely accidental…

..but the results…they made his eyes widen greatly. "…oh my gosh…" he whispered under his breath.

Patches additions gave him whole new theories on it…theories he wondered why he didn't think of before…but this accident just turned into a great success. He was so awestruck by this that he jumped off his bed, and rushed out of his room through the house.

His heart started beating wildly in his chest in eager excitement at the ideas running through his head, bursting into his shop. He could hardly contain his breath, holding his chest to press on his pounding heart.

"…oh my gosh…" he repeated, stupefied. He just couldn't believe it…

It was such a powerful epiphany…and it came from Patches of all people.

He rushed to his desk and placed the drawings aside to glance at them every now and then while he sketched on his own. He had to redraw them so he could see them more properly, and add the new notes on what was going through his head. Tails knew he had to get them down now, before he'd forget about them, and something this big would nag at his mind all night, preventing any sleep whatsoever.

He got more and more excited when the pieces of the whole thing fell neatly into place, and he smiled as he marched further and further through his thought process, getting every single little bit down on the pages.


End file.
